Todd Klein on lettering, literature and more

Menu

And Then I Read: VERTIGO QUARTERLY: MAGENTA

Before I discuss the contents of this anthology, some words on the cover. While it’s true that, in today’s market, cover appeal is not as important as it once was when readers needed to be enticed to buy off the newsstand, I still feel this design scheme for the QUARTERLY is misguided. First, it reveals nothing about what’s in the book. Second, it wastes prime space. Third, it’s an insider joke that, even as an insider myself, I find uninteresting. Perhaps the oddness of it might get a few folks to pick it up and look through it, but I don’t think that’s enough reason to go this route.

As for what’s inside, I’m afraid I didn’t find very much that appealed to me. The opening story by Rachel Deering and Matteo Scalera has nice art, but a violently unlikeable lead character. Rian Hughes’ “Magenta is not a Colour” is at least on theme, and the art is attractive and clever. The story did not do much for me, but that might be me. “Captives” by Moreci and Mutti has nice art, but again not much of a story, it’s more of a story fragment. “Gloves” by Lindsay and Edwards delivers a complete story, and not a bad one. The art is impressionistic and well done, though not really to my taste. Fabio Moon’s “Pink Slumber” is probably my favorite entry in the book. Clever writing, attractive art, a little light on content, but not bad. A few other stories didn’t work for me, and I have to say the lettering and/or the art was off-putting. Books like this are meant to give newcomers a chance to try things, and that’s great, but it doesn’t mean readers will want to read them.